


Worn-out Minds & Wandering Eyes

by summertime227



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-16
Updated: 2017-05-17
Packaged: 2018-11-01 13:31:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10922790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/summertime227/pseuds/summertime227
Summary: After visiting Polly at The Sisters of Quiet Mercy, Betty & Jughead miss the last bus back to Riverdale.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is just your classic forced bed sharing situation! #TropeQueen  
> Also in this story, Mama Cooper obviously never shows up.

“I’m sorry, the next bus to Riverdale isn’t until 7 a.m. tomorrow morning.”

Betty and Jughead stood in the bus terminal, staring at each other.

“What do we do?” Betty asked.

Before Jughead could answer, the lady behind the counter pointed to nothing in particular. “There’s a motel across the street.”

Jughead sighed, frustrated and pinched the bridge of his nose. He put his hand on Betty’s back and led her toward the exit. “Come on, Betts,” he said and she could hear in his voice how exhausted he was.

 

Jughead unlocked the motel room door, the last one available. He pushed the door open and flicked on the light. Betty and Jughead’s eyes immediately landed on the one queen-sized bed, but neither of them addressed it. Betty walked through the door that Jughead was holding open. She lifted her bag over her head, pulled her grey jacket off, and set them both down. She walked to the centre of the room, turning around slowly, taking everything in. Jughead watched her and when she turned to face him, she smiled sheepishly. She sat down on the bed and laughed when it creaked loudly. Jughead sat down next to her.

“Ok… I am getting serious Bates Motel vibes from this place,” Jughead teased.

Betty laughed again and without thinking, leaned her head on his shoulder.

He tensed for just a second.

“I am sooo tired,” Betty sighed dreamily. Then her face contorted in a very childlike frown. “I don’t have pajamas.”

Jughead moved her to sit up.

“Here,” he said, standing up. First, he shrugged out of his denim jacket and then his dark green flannel, leaving him in only his black, long-sleeved shirt. He held out the flannel to her. She suppressed a smile and stood up, taking the shirt from his hands and running her fingers over the soft fabric.

“Thanks,” she said softly before walking around the bed to the bathroom and shutting the door.

 

Betty lifted her blue sweater over her head and removed the blouse underneath. She unbuttoned her jeans and slid them off, taking her time to pile everything neatly on the counter. She pulled on Jughead’s flannel and was immediately enveloped in his scent, a mix of Red Vines, smoke – likely left over from living in the trailer with his father – and something else she could only describe as autumn that was so Jughead. Her eyes fluttered closed. She buttoned the shirt up with shaky fingers and rolled her eyes at herself. _Relax, Betty. So, you're going to share a bed with Jughead... it's no big deal!_ She pulled her ponytail free and immediately felt the pressure in her temples melt away. She fingered her blonde hair and shook it out. She looked at herself in the mirror and bit her bottom lip. Seeing herself in nothing but Jughead’s shirt made her chest constrict in a totally new and not totally terrible way. She thought of giving it back to him tomorrow, her scent mixed with his and felt a fluttering in the pit of her stomach. _Seriously, stop_. She picked up her clothes and held them to her chest. She put her hand on the doorknob, took a deep breath, and opened the door.

Jughead was in his shirt and boxers, but most surprising, his beloved beanie sat on the bedside table. He was pulling the sheets on the bed back, but he looked up when she entered the room. Betty saw his eyes bulge just a little. She swore she could feel a trail of heat travel up her bare legs over the flannel all the way to her mussed hair as Jughead raked his eyes over her. She was sure she was blushing. He quickly remembered himself and respectfully averted his eyes.

“I think it looks better on you,” he mumbled, his voice a little breathless.

In an attempt to alleviate the tension she was feeling, she walked over and picked up his beanie from the bedside table. “I think I need this to complete the look,” she joked, pulling it onto her head. She tried to plaster a look of brooding on her face, staring wistfully into the space behind Jughead and pouting dramatically.

He scoffed and adjusted the hat on her head. “That is a _terrible_ me, Betts.”

Her mock smoulder slipped off her face as she broke into soft laughter. She looked up at him and realized how close they were standing.

After just a second, Betty's phone went off and she jumped. She pulled the beanie off her head and went to dig her phone out of her bag. Her mom’s picture flashed on the screen. “Oh my god. It’s my mom,” she said and looked up at Jughead with a panicked expression. “I told her I’d be home by 10.” She looked at the clock. 10:07. She took a deep breath and answered the phone. “Hi, mom,” she said too enthusiastically.

“Elizabeth Cooper, where are you?”

“Uhh… I’m at Veronica’s. I’m sorry. I completely forgot to call. Is it ok if I spend the night here?”

“I don’t think so Elizabeth. You know how I feel about-“

“I know, mom, but please? V is really upset about her… father. And she could really use my support right now. I don’t wanna be a bad friend.” She heard her mother sigh on the other end of the line and shut her eyes, awaiting her mother’s answer. If her mother told her to come home right now, she would be in serious trouble.

“Alright, Elizabeth, fine. Just don’t stay up too late because you know you get bags under yours eyes when y-”

“I won’t.”

Her mom started listing off more instructions at her.

“Mmm hmm.”

“I will.”

Jughead watched Betty listen to her mother on the other end, occasionally rolling her eyes and giving one-word, distracted answers. He held up a complementary toothbrush and gestured toward the bathroom. Betty nodded, still half listening to her mom. “Uh huh, got it mom. Thanks. Bye.” She hung up the phone and immediately texted Veronica, asking her to cover for her if her mom called and telling her she’d explain tomorrow.

Betty dropped her phone back into her bag and walked over to the bed. She unhooked her key necklace, pulling the chain out from under her hair as Jughead returned.

They couldn’t look at each other. They both sat on opposite sides of the bed, turning and lifting their legs onto the bed. Jughead folded the blankets back so he could pull them back up over his legs while Betty just bents her knees and slipped her toes underneath. They lay back, as far apart from each other as possible. Betty hazarded a glance at Jughead at the same time he turned his head to look at her. Their eyes met and Betty felt an unmistakable heat rise to her cheeks.

“We have to be up early,” Jughead said like he was trying to convince himself of something.

Betty nodded slowly.

“We should go to sleep,” he finished in a disarmingly gentle tone.

Betty nodded again. She turned away from him to switch the lamp off, bathing them in darkness.

“Goodnight, Jug.”

“Night, Betts.”

 

Jughead fell asleep surprisingly fast. Betty would have pegged him for a restless sleeper, but he drifted off in a matter of minutes. He must have been even more tired than she thought. Betty turned on her side to face him. At some point, they had both migrated closer to the centre of the bed. Betty slid closer still, careful not to wake him. She took a self-indulgent minute while he was dead to the world to really look at him. He really was beautiful. His eyebrows, usually furrowed with worry or stress, were smooth. She wished she could see him like this more often, worry-free and peaceful. His dark eyelashes dusted the tops of his cheeks. She followed the trail of freckles on his olive skin from the hollow of his neck to the edge of his t-shirt and watched his chest rise and fall with his even breaths. His black hair fell over his eyes. Emboldened by the darkness and this quiet moment of isolation from the madness of their hometown, Betty reached out and brushed the hair away from his face, letting the pads of her fingertips trail along the soft skin of his forehead. She heard Jughead sigh in his sleep and snapped her hand away quickly, closing her eyes. When he didn't stir any further, Betty opened one eye and then the other. She moved even closer to him and pressed her bare knee against his thigh at the edge of his cotton boxers. She let her hand fall so that her fingertips were resting lightly against his palm. She laid her head on the bed right next to his chest. Betty could hear the steady beating of Jughead's heart and she let it lull her to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as requested!

While Betty was in the bathroom changing, Jughead kicked off his shoes and surveyed the room once more. He couldn’t really believe what was happening. He was in a motel room with Betty. He was about to share a bed. With _Betty_. On their way to the room, he had offered to sleep on the floor, but she quickly cut him off.

“Don’t be silly, Jug. We can share. It’s not a big deal,” she had said, but there was a deep blush that spread all the way from the tips of her ears to the slope of her neck before disappearing into the blue collar of her button-up.

Right. No big deal. Because they were friends. Had been for years. Hell, this wouldn’t even be their first time sharing a bed. Of course, the other time, Archie was with them and they were only seven…

Jughead unbuckled his belt and pulled off his jeans, crumpling them up and throwing them onto the chair with his denim jacket. He reached up to his beanie and hesitated just for a second before pulling it off and dropping it on the bedside table. He scratched his scalp with both hands, ruffling his black hair into a hundred different directions. He yawned and started to pull the bed sheets back when he heard the bathroom door open.

His breath caught when he saw her. Betty's hair was down and fell in waves around her shoulders, slightly tangled from the long day they’d had. The dark green of his flannel made the green in her eyes seem especially bright. She had left a couple buttons at the top and a couple on the bottom undone. The shirt met her mid-thigh. His eyes lingered on the long expanse of her legs and he wondered if they felt as soft as they looked. He swallowed thickly and looked away.

"I think it looks better on you,” he said, turning back toward the bed.

She walked up behind him and picked up his beanie from the table.

“I think I need this to complete the look,” she said, pulling his favourite hat onto her blonde head. He followed her movements with raised eyebrows, amused. She looked past him, narrowing her eyes and jutting out her bottom lip. He condemned her imitation of him and she laughed. He basked in the sound of her musical laughter before a call from her mom interrupted. She stepped away and he closed his eyes, holding onto the feeling of Betty Cooper in his personal space.

 

While Betty was talking to her mom on the phone, he retreated to the bathroom. He turned on the water and braced himself on the counter. He took a deep breath and shook his head, trying to shake himself free of whatever he was feeling in the pit of his stomach. _Get a grip._ He splashed cold water on his face and brushed his teeth.

 

When Betty switched off the light, lying in bed with her was even more overwhelming. His eyes had yet to adjust to the darkness. He couldn’t see her and it made his other senses pay extra attention. He could hear each breath she took, still too uneven to be asleep. He could feel when she shifted to find a more comfortable position. And he could feel the heat radiating off her bare skin under the sheets. When she rolled over toward him, he could smell the rain that still clung to her hair.

Eventually, Jughead relaxed and enjoyed their quiet little escape. The last couple of months, he had either spent his nights on a cot at the drive-in or in the janitor’s closet at school. In that lumpy, creaking motel bed with Betty Cooper was the most comfortable he’d been in a long time and he sighed, content that he might actually get a good night’s rest. He gave himself over to his exhaustion quickly, falling into a deep sleep to the smell of vanilla milkshakes.

 

In the morning, Jughead awoke to the sound of Betty’s alarm. It didn’t wake her though, so he reached over her to hit snooze. And that’s when he noticed their… interesting position. Either he or Betty must have kicked off the blankets at some point during the night because they were pooled at the bottom of the bed. Betty had one leg tangled with his, the bent position of her knee causing his flannel to rise up further on her thigh. Her chest was parallel to his own, almost but not touching. She had one hand wedged underneath his pillow and the other laying between them so the back of her hand rested against his abdomen. He couldn’t see her face. She had her head turned down and her hair fell over her face like a curtain, sparkly from the sun shining through the window. He glanced at the clock. 6:42. Their bus was leaving in 18 minutes. Wanting to spare her the unnecessary embarrassment Betty was prone to at their intimate position, Jughead wrapped his hand around her knee as softly as he could and moved her leg from between his to rest on the bed. He pulled the sheets up over her, moved further away to a less intimate distance and reluctantly ended their moment.

But Jughead knew there would be more moments for him and the girl next door. He knew how she felt, how she sounded, how she smelled. And now he desperately wanted to know how she tasted.


End file.
